The collection and analysis of driving data, including accident data, such as the identification of driving behaviors and traffic accidents, has many applications. For example, insurance companies and financial institutions may offer rate discounts or other financial incentives to customers based on safe driving behaviors and accident-free driving records. Law enforcement or government personnel may collect and analyze driving data and traffic accident statistics to identify dangerous driving roads or times, and to detect moving violations and other unsafe driving behaviors. In other cases, driving data may be used for navigation applications, vehicle tracking and monitoring applications, and on-board vehicle maintenance applications, among others.
Vehicle-based computer systems, such as on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems and telematics devices, may be used in automobiles and other vehicles, and may be capable of collecting various driving data and vehicle sensor data. For example, OBD systems may receive information from the vehicle's on-board computers and sensors in order to monitor a wide variety of information relating to the vehicle systems, such as engine RPM, emissions control, vehicle speed, throttle position, acceleration and braking rates, use of driver controls, etc. Vehicles may also include Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and devices installed within or operating at the vehicle configured to collect vehicle location and time data. Such vehicle-based systems may be capable of collecting driving data which may be used to perform various driving data analyses such as statistical driving evaluations, driver score calculations, etc. Vehicle-based systems also may be configured to detect the occurrence of traffic accidents, for instance, using vehicle body impact sensors and airbag deployment sensors. However, not all vehicles are equipped with systems capable of collecting, analyzing, and communicating driving data. Moreover, a single vehicle may be used by multiple different drivers, and conversely, a single driver may drive multiple different vehicles. Thus, vehicle driving data and/or accident records collected by vehicle-based systems might not include the vehicle occupants that correspond to the collected driving and accident data.
In contrast to vehicle-based systems, mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, tablet computers, and the like, are often carried and/or operated by a single user. Some mobile devices may include movement sensors, such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, speedometer, and/or GPS receivers, capable of detecting movement.
In addition, repair shops and rental car companies have been coordinating for years. While a damaged car is undergoing repair at a repair shop, a rental car company may provide the car owner with a temporary means of transportation. Therefore, many times the period of time over which a car is rented directly coincides with the time it to repair and release a vehicle to its owner. Nevertheless there remains space in the industry for improvements that would, inter alia, result in a more accurate calculation of the amount of time to repair a damaged vehicle, thus a more accurate determination of the amount of time a user may need a rental car during vehicle collision repair.